Summary
Alice buys a lottery ticket for her best friend, Teddy, for his 18th birthday. And it’s a winner. Over 140 million dollars!
Suddenly everything changes. Teddy’s spending money left and right. He’s on talk shows. Kids at school are hanging all over him – or jeering jealously behind his back.
And when Teddy tries to give half to Alice since she bought the ticket and picked the numbers, she turns him down, leading to their biggest fight in 9 years of friendship.
Alice’s life is upside down. Her best friend is living the high life, and she’s afraid he is headed for a big fall. Her aunt and uncle are encouraging her to consider other colleges when they know it is her dream to go to Stanford. And her cousin has broken up with his boyfriend even though they are obviously in love. A cute guy is asking her out but she can’t get past the feelings she has for Teddy. Through it all, she wonders if the choices she’s making for her life are really hers, or if she’s trying to do what she thinks her parents would have wanted.
Review
While this is a lottery story, it is so much more. It’s about friends and family, money and charity, and the past and the future. All three of the main characters – Alice, Teddy and Leo – are driven by their past or fear of the future. Teddy goes overboard with the money because of how hard things were after his dad lost all the family’s money and ran off. Alice is trying to recapture a sense of home from before her parents died. And Leo is afraid of losing Max when they are both in college, maybe in different places. He’s seen Teddy and Alice face such hardships in life, and he’s afraid he is due for a personal disaster.
The money situation from the lottery win shines a light on the choices the teens are making. It also raises great questions about what to do with such a windfall. What’s fun and what’s practical? What’s responsible? How do you know whose motives to trust?
I liked that there were bigger issues addressed outside of the money. I liked the main characters and their families. The final money solution was great. It seemed reasonable for the situation. I’m not 100% sold on the romantic outcome. I liked Alice’s other option better. Overall this was a good story.